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I attended a Womens Spirituality conference yesterday that really recharged my batteries!The highlight dance portion was led by a fantastic presentor, a friend of mine named Valerie, who tells it like it is in a way like no other. Shes the shortest yet most vibrant person I know, and Im always supercharged to be around her! She can fill a large room with her effervescent presence and certainly did so yesterday~ Her craft is combining the love of dance with spirit. She is truly the embodiment of Heart and Soul and I know she would be happy to be compared to a sprite. Thanks Val!~She started the exercise by quoting Nietzsche:“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” She told us to feel the music move through our bodies, either with closed eyes or at least looking at the ceiling and dancing like no one was watching. We were on our honor not to peek at the other people in the room, just have our own physical experience- and shake it out! Shout it out! and express ourselves through movement. ~Wow! It’s so great to be allowed the freedom to play~We first danced out our emotions to the worst scenerio we’d had~ bad interpersonal dynamics, gone physical. There were lots of angry sounds heard over the music, grunts, heavy sighs, groans, and forceful exhalations. As for myself, there was lots of punching and clawing going on. Eventually, after lots of stomping and stabbing motions I started to shrivel and cry. Wow~ it was more powerful than I expected it to be! The point of the exercise was to become aware of where in our bodies we hold negative energy. I could definitely feel mine- and did lots of deep breathing to release it…visualizing the pain as a sensation/color leaving my body. We grounded ourselves by feeling rooted like a tree, branches to the sky and did a chant together.The next dance was our ‘happy dance’, where we danced to experience JOY! This was powerful too, but a lot more fun, of course. There was spinning, twisting, arms reaching gracefully to the sky, happy stepping and turning….and then a pause to feel the happiness located IN our bodies. I could feel this really well too. Then as we slowed our movements down, we continued to dialogue with the feeling in our bodies and each found personal ways to hold that energy, by using a small ‘trigger‘ movement which represented to us, that feeling of joy. Mine is a simple grasping hand motion- its small enough to not be noticed by other people. I can do this anytime I’m stressed to remember that happy feeling, bring my consciousness back to it, and return the positive emotion back into my body, by using this ‘trigger‘. Ive tried it and it really helps bring me back to center. It reminds me that I am bigger than any emotion, and have the power to watch them as they ‘roll on by’… as Cat Stevens would say, “Love is better than a song. And love is where we all belong.” Centered in Love.

Our experiences in life are always affected by our perception. If we are aware that our spirit, our inner core, our soul, is eternal and our emotions and experiences are fleeting, then we can retain the power to chose our perception of every experience- and never fall victim to them! It doesn’t mean that we deny pain, frustration or fear…we just decide to view them from a detached vantage point- as a non-judgmental observer, to try to discover the lessons they hold. Intellectualizing strong emotion is a skill anyone can develop. It is very empowering.

Triggers can help make the transition from the mind to the body! Then we can return to the status-quo of a calm and settled vibration. A safe place from which to make wiser decisions and a healthier place to live: Sit in experience. Acknowledge it with your mind, but let it leave your cells. Negativity causes physical harm to our bodies as well as spirits.

~I highly recommend doing this dance exercise. Forget that you ‘don’t know how to dance’ or feel foolish. Find a time and place you can be alone. Put on your favorite music, the kind that lifts your spirit and start moving however you want. Discover where your joy resides in your body. Hold it. Appreciate it. See if you can build it up using your attention and intention. Then make it smaller and create a tiny movement that can become your ‘happy trigger’. It will be your secret tool to use as you see fit to keep your feet on a path of joy.

May you each be Spirit Scouts toward happiness everyday, and may you find your happy Triggers and happy trails! Namaste’ pardners 😉